


The Empress and The Emperor

by Oadara



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Canon Compliant, Divination, Dragonstone, F/M, Romance, Tarot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 15:42:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17144525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oadara/pseuds/Oadara
Summary: After a quarrel, Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen are reminded of how strong they can be when they work together.





	The Empress and The Emperor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [varaemilaje](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=varaemilaje).



> Happy Holidays from your Jonerys Secret Santa. I hope you enjoy this one shot.

The thawing of winter was slow and cheerless, though Dany. 

It had been more than a year since they had defeated the Wight Walkers and yet there was still snow on the ground. In the midst of winter while they battled for their lives, they had been engulfed in snow, now only a thin layer was left, but it was still a daily reminder of how close they had all come to death. 

She had been in a dark mood all morning. She had quarreled with Jon yet again. How could they be so alike and so different at the same time? He was so bloody stubborn! When he set his mind on something, the man was unwavering. The gods knew how much she loved him, but he knew well how to try her patience. As with most of their disputes nowadays it was the Lords of Westeros that brought them to odds. 

A knock on the door pulled her away from her dark musings. 

“Come in.”

Through the double weirwood and ebony doors walked in her scribe and friend Missandei. 

“I begged your pardon your grace, but there is an old woman downstairs that claims to have a message for you and his grace. I asked her to give me her message so that I may pass it along, but she insists that it must be her that gives it. Do you wish me to dismiss her?”

Dany though for a moment, she and Jon held court three times a week, but today was not one of those days. Jon had gone hunting this morning in an attempt to burn away some of his frustration. She had stayed to spend time with their daughter, but the babe was still fast asleep. The thought made her snort. 

When Dany was too busy to be with her daughter she screamed and cried, demanding her mother’s attention, however, today when Dany had time to spend with her, her little princess could not be bothered. Dany turned to Missandei, 

“Tell her that Jon is not here but that I’ll see her. Have her sent to my study; I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Dany walked down the halls of Dragonstone. They had returned to the castle after the war. King’s Landing was gone, and it would take them years to rebuild the city and the Red Keep. They had chosen to do neither. Jon had suggested they let the dead lie in peace for once. And so, it was decided that they would build their new home not atop the dead in King’s Landing but by the Trident where they had stopped the army of the dead. 

Lost in her thoughts, she found herself staring at the doors to her study. Her Dothraki blood riders were already posted at each side of the doors, like sentinels standing guard. 

***

The hunt had barely been successful. They had managed to kill a thin elk and shoot a half dozen birds. As he walked down the hall, he saw his wife standing in front of her study. She looked as regal as always with a determined, stubborn look on her face. Gods that woman was stubborn, he loved her more than anything, but she tried his patience. She truly did. With that in mind, he squared his shoulders and walked towards her. 

“Daenerys,” he said in a quiet, almost hesitant voice. 

She turned her face toward him and looked intently into his eyes. He had annoyed her by calling her Daenerys. She usually preferred it when they were in public (in private he always called her Dany), but now that they were at odds with each other it, it sounded as if he was unnecessarily formal. 

“Jon Snow. I see you’ve returned from your hunt. Were you successful?” she said curtly. 

“Well, we won’t go hungry for today.” 

“That’s good to hear.” She said still looking him straight in the eyes. 

He hated this. They sounded like two polite strangers who just happened to run into each other. He had always felt comfortable with her; he hated walking on pins and needles around her. 

“What are you doing here? Are you meeting with someone?” he said in a softer tone. 

His tone startled her, and she softens her own in response. “Yes. There’s an old woman who insisted on speaking with us. I was going to meet her on my own as you were out hunting. But now that you are here, perhaps you would like to join me.” 

“Do you know what she wants?” he asked, curious to know who this old woman was. 

“I do not. The old woman would give Missandei no information about herself and said she had an important message for us.” 

“Well then, let’s see what this old woman has to say,”

They walked into the study together and found themselves staring at an old woman who looked practically ancient, with her slight hunchback, thin papery white skin, and long white braid that ran down her back she was the very image of a Woods Witch. Her eyes were almost white, but they had the faint touch of blue around the edges. Missandei stood next to the woman in stark contrast to her. 

“Your graces.” Said the old woman with a voice much stronger that one would imagine for someone so old. “I beg you forgive my impertinence, but I have come here to give you a warning.”

“Warn us?”

Said Jon and Dany in unison. Both sounding confused and worried. 

The war might have ended, but they were barely holding chaos at bay. Petty lords and petty men took any chance they had to prompt themselves up and declare themselves kings. Their resources were so depleted and their men so tired after the war that they were barely able to keep these opportunists from disrupting the tenuous peace they had achieved. Bad tidings were not something either Jon or Dany welcomed. But it seems that was all they received nowadays. 

“Of what do you wish to warn us?” said Dany a bit more forcefully. Jon stood beside her giving the poor old woman a deathly stare. 

“That, I do not know, you grace and cannot tell you until the cards are set in front of you.” 

The old woman could see Jon and Dany’s annoyance. They had neither the time nor the inclination for games and riddles. 

“I beg your pardon your graces, but please allow me to explain.”

“Then explain yourself.” Said, Jon

“My name is Petra; I am a fortune teller, a gift my mother gave me. I have dreams and can read the cards. Last night I dreamt that I was to come here to tell your graces something of great importance.”

“You said you had a warning for us,” Dany said more forcefully.

“I assume it is a warning for I felt a great deal of urgency. If your grace would indulge this old woman and allow her to set her cards so that she may read her grace this message. I would be so ever grateful.”

Dany thought about this for a moment. She wasn’t fond of mages; experiences had soured her to those who had the gift. 

She turned her back to the woman and towards to Jon. 

“What do you think?”

“I’m as fond of mages as you are, but we cannot deny their power. I say we hear the message and make of it what we will.”

Dany nodded, the old woman asks nothing of them but their time and seemed earnest in her request. She turned back to the old woman. 

“We will indulge you, but I warn you not to waste our time.” 

***

The old woman sat across from Jon and Dany. She had placed a cloth on top of the table, and there she had laid a series of artifacts and trinkets of the most peculiar appearance. There were crystals and herbs and bottles labeled with names that were barely legible. Dany looked at Jon, but he seemed as perplexed as she was. 

Petra took one of the oddly named bottles and poured a clear liquid into her hand rubbing them together. The smelled Jasmin and musk and something else neither could discern reached their noses; it appears it was some oil. From a pouch, Petra removed a deck of cards. They were large, old and frayed. They were hand painted with pictures with such designs Jon had never seen Dany, on the other hand, recognized some of them. She remembered seeing the fortune tellers in Tyrosh have similar cards. She could see towers, suns, moons, and hanging men. 

The fortune teller’s hands had looked deceivingly thing and frail, but they shuffled the card deftly with a skill born of years of practice. Jon watched intently as the old woman went about her task when she was done she set the card in front of Dany. 

“If her grace wouldn’t mind shuffling the cards and his grace can split the deck in two when she’s done with her shuffling.” 

Dany and Jon looked at each other, then they looked at the old woman and then the cards. Dany took them and shuffled as best she could. The old woman had made it seem easy, something which it was not. 

When she was done she set the deck in front of her, Jon extended his arm and split the deck in two as the mage had requested. 

Petra took one half and put it atop the other then she began to create her spread. Five cards laid in a cross shape in front of her and four cards were lined to her right. The first card that she turned was at the center of the cross. 

“The Wheel of Fortune,” said Petra. 

“This card represents change, from good to bad and bad to good. Kings and queens and peasants alike are at its mercy, non-can change what is to be. You can either adjust or be crushed by it. But worry not, for the wheel is always turning and those who find themselves at the bottom may one day be at the top.”

Jon was not very impressed with the fortune teller’s warning. He knew well the fickleness of gods. He was not foolish enough to believe that their fortune would forever favor them. He expected it to change and not always in their favor. 

The next card the old woman turned was the one sitting beneath The Wheel of Fortune, and its design was easy enough to read, it was a burning tower. Well, I guess the change that is coming won’t be of the good kind thought Dany. 

“I see your expression your grace but do not be deceived by the cards appearance. The Tower only shows us that whatever is coming, will make a difference. It is not the small changes of a day or two, no, what’s coming will be important, will have meaning, will make a difference. Let’s see what the cards have to tell us next.”

She flipped the card that sat beneath the first two. It was hard for either Jon or Dany to decipher its meaning. To Dany, it looked like wands. 

“The Five of Wands. There’s a conflict here; there’s a conflict coming your way. Forces gather against you.”

“This is something we are well aware of,” said Dany

“This is more, your grace. What is coming has a clear purpose. It is a force that gathers with a mission, a determination to accomplish its goals. I would not take this warning lightly.” 

Dany did not like the sound of that. Could people not be at peace for longer than a day. Why the need to constantly strife against each other. Were they not as tired of war as she and Jon were?

On and on the mage went on reading her cards. If she was right, there was war or at least a revolt coming. That is something they had feared. Their quarrel this morning was about how to best deal with a lord that was gathering men from across the narrow sea, setting himself up to gods knew what. Dany had wanted to strike right away; she believed they had enough information to now he was up to no good. But Jon wanted to wait a bit longer; he was wary of launching themselves into yet another conflict. Dany was weary too, but she also knew too well what happens when you let the enemy fester. 

There were now but two cards left, the top two cards that laid at her right side, the mage lifted her eyes and looked at Jon and Dany. 

She turned the card below the top one and exclaimed “The Emperor!” and looked at Jon dead in the eye. 

“There is hope here. The Emperor is a leader with a firm hand and a true heart. Those who follow his lead succeed not only because he is determined but also because he understands that he serves a higher purpose. Whatever troubles come your way, your graces, you must face them with wisdom and clear mind.” 

Finally, they had arrived at the last card. Petra turned it. Dany could see that it was similar to that of The Emperor, but instead of a man upon a throne, it was a woman. 

The old woman gave a small smile. “The last card represents the outcome of this conflict, and the gods have not forsaken you after all, for they send you “The Empress.” However, you chose to weather this storm; you will succeed. The Empress always brings you good luck, for she’s the bringer of life and new beginnings. My advice to you, your graces, is that together there is none who can overtake you. Your success is guaranteed.”

Jon and Dany looked at each other, how silly that it should be an old mage that reminded them how important they were to each other, and how important it was for them to face their burdens together.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I’d really like to improve my writing. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!


End file.
